Friday, January 21, 2005
Al-Qaeda's Game Plan: Break Our Economy
Charles' posting of Richard Clarke's stunning prediction/thought-experiment reminds me of an equally-stunning piece by noted DailyKos contributor Pericles, aka Doug Muder. (UPDATE: Since the Kos diary originally referenced no longer exists, the link below will take you to Muder's website, where he has archived a copy of the essay.) That piece is Terrorist Strategy 101: A Quiz. And it's every bit as chilling as Clarke's piece. The two articles go very well together. For one thing, both Pericles and Clarke note that Osama's battle plan has always been obvious. That plan is to break the US economy so that we are unable to afford to wage war abroad, or are so distracted at home that we cannot wage war abroad. The astonishing thing is that the neocons, the Cold Warriors like Condi Rice who pride themselves on their knowledge of Evil Empires, the self-styled "Vulcans" who are really Ferengi, haven't figured this out yet. For Osama's game plan is the very same one that the neocons say that they used cause the collapse of the old Soviet Union. But the neocons, by insisting on following Grover Norquist's "starve the beast" policy of massive tax cuts for the rich during wartime when the government needs the money the most, seem almost to be begging the Chinese to stop servicing the vast debts the neocons have piled up. And when that happens, we fall apart faster than the Soviet Union did. Osama couldn't have planned this better if he himself had poisoned Karl Rove and took his place in the West Wing.
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